Deficient Heart Function Syndrome: a new nursing diagnosis for people with heart failure

Abstract

Objectives: to identify whether the set of nursing diagnoses “Excessive fluid volume”, “Decreased cardiac output”, “Decreased activity tolerance”, “Fatigue” and “Impaired comfort” constitutes the “Deficient Cardiac Function Syndrome” in people with heart failure. Methods: a cross-sectional analytical study, which included 360 participants who were assessed by a cardiology nurse who used the nursing process and NANDA-International classification. Latent class analysis and log-linear models were used to determine the occurrence of nursing diagnoses by cluster. Results: “Fatigue” and “Excessive fluid volume” had the highest sensitivity; “Decreased cardiac output” and “Impaired comfort” had the highest specificity; “Decreased activity tolerance” had similar sensitivity and specificity. Latent class analysis for the new diagnosis included all diagnoses. Nine combinations of diagnostic statuses exhibited conditional dependence. Conclusions: the concomitant presence and strong relationship between diagnoses provide evidence for the existence of a syndromic diagnosis in this population.